In search of missing scenes
by filament-de-lune
Summary: This is a collection of short stories with Jane, Lisbon and the team. Jisbon !
1. Cinderella

**Hi everybody!**

**I've written several short stories and decided to put all of them in one collection titled "In search of missing scenes". I'm French and I'm not very good at translating, so I have a precious help: Afterglow04 corrects everything I write and changes certain phrases and sentences around when what I wrote looks slightly weird. And sometimes she even translates one of my 'little scenes' herself. (I'll tell you when)**

**I hope you'll enjoy the concept.**

**Of course, I don't own the Mentalist (even if I already tried to steal the scripts from Bruno Heller ^^)**

**Happy reading!**

**I translated this first scene and Afterglow04 corrected it.**

**Cinderella**

Jane walked into the bullpen, a smile already on his lips. The sun had graced them with its presence early in the morning and it was proving to be a truly wonderful day.

"Good morning!" he greeted his colleagues.

"Hi."

"Morning, Jane."

"Hi Jane."

"Is Lisbon around?"

"In her office, as usual…" Cho muttered, still concentrated on his work.

"Thanks!"

Jane threw his jacket onto the couch and proceeded into Lisbon's office without knocking. He found her perched on a chair, eagerly scrubbing one of the windows in her office with a dust cloth in her hands.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Good morning, Jane. Yea, I'm alright, thanks for asking. How about you?"

He smiled at her obvious sarcasm.

"Me? I'm doing fine; I'm not the one in the middle of a cleaning spree. You, on the other hand…"

Lisbon sighed and got down from her chair to spray some more cleaning product onto the cloth, before she got back up and continued her work.

"You do know they have a cleaning crew for that?"

"I don't like the idea of someone I don't know poking around my office."

"But they won't 'poke around' your office," Jane said mildly amused as he walked closer, resting his hands on the back of her chair. "They're paid to clean, they just do their job and they leave."

"Well, I can clean the windows in my own office just fine."

She studiously scrubbed for another moment, then she got down from the chair and pushed it up to the second window, spraying more product around and climbing back up.

"You've already finished with the first window?" Jane asked somewhat incredulously.

"Yea. What, you can't tell?"

"Where did you learn to do your cleaning?" he laughed at her. "There's at least a dozen stains left!"

Lisbon looked down at him, an annoyed look crossing her face.

"Well, go ahead, do it yourself. I'm not stopping you."

Jane took the bait and immediately climbed up on the chair, holding onto Lisbon for support.

"Jane! What the hell are you doing? There's no room on this chair for the both of us, get down!"

"Well, if there's room for one..."

He snatched the dust cloth and bottle out of her hands, spraying the liquid onto the glass. Then he scrubbed with all his strength to get rid of the remaining stains.

"Okay, first of all, Cinderella," he offered up his nicest smile. "You should spray the cleaning product directly on the glass, it's much more efficient that way."

"Don't call me Cinderella."

Their faces were only inches apart, causing Lisbon to make a face at him as she grabbed the bottle back. Though she would hate to admit it, she did trust his advice and decided to use his method on the second window. Jane, in the meantime, didn't seem to feel the need to get back down, choosing instead to stay glued to Lisbon as he wondered why she hadn't pushed him down yet. He'd left the door to her office wide open, and Cho hesitantly walked in.

"Boss, I'll…just put this on your desk." He said, dropping a paper on Lisbon's desk. "It's the research you asked for."

He frowned, shooting Jane a questioning look when he discovered the obvious amusement in his eyes.

"Thanks," Lisbon answered without taking her eyes off the window.

"We're cleaning," Jane clarified.

"I can see that."

"Care to help us?"

"Thanks, but I've got more than enough windows at my place. Plus, three people on one chair…"

Cho stepped back out into the bullpen, and Jane turned back towards Lisbon to observe her improved cleaning skills.

"Excellent! Now you're the perfect Cinderella!" he complimented her. "Do you have a Prince Charming?"

"Whatever," she huffed.

"Because, you know, if you want…I could be your Prince Charming."

Lisbon stopped cleaning and turned to face her consultant. Her eyes met his blue gaze and an electric jolt seemed to course through her body. There was an unrecognisable expression in his eyes, something Lisbon couldn't quite place and it prevented her from looking away.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Jane asked, his voice suddenly much softer.

"You wouldn't be good for the role of Prince Charming," she finally replied, averting her eyes.

She went back to cleaning, but a small smile played on her lips and it didn't go unnoticed by Jane.

"You're kidding me, right? I'd be a perfect Prince Charming! I mean; I have money, a big house, an irresistible smile…" he trailed off.

Lisbon's smile widened as she looked at him.

"And so modest!"

"Don't try to deny it, I know you love my smile."

"Ah ah, still, you can't be my Prince Charming. Cinderella's Prince Charming had brown hair."

Jane burst out laughing.

"How many times have you watched Cinderella, Lisbon?"

"Hmm…a few times," she said, a faint blush colouring her cheeks.

"I can imagine! But you know, Cinderella had blonde hair and you have dark hair. So to make up for that, you'd need a Prince Charming with blonde hair."

"Get down from my chair, Jane."

"Ah, I'd been wondering when you were going to ask me that. It took you long enough. So do you like my smile?"

Lisbon gave Jane a push, and he laughed as he jumped to the floor.

"Your smile infuriates me!"

"I know."

She finished the final window and stepped down, putting the cloth and cleaner on her desk before rubbing her hands on her pants. Jane suddenly stepped closer.

"And it's normal, really, because I know it's the main reason you let me get away with so many things…"

"It's not because of your smile," Lisbon countered.

"Well, what's the reason then?"

Lisbon smiled but didn't answer.

"If it were the other way around and I was your boss, it would be your eyes that would make it impossible for me to refuse you anything." Jane confessed in a much calmer tone of voice.

Lisbon felt something stir in the pit of her stomach.

"So what about you? Why do you let me get away with all my crazy stunts?" Jane insisted.

"Because…you're…" Lisbon stammered, blushing. "You're you."

"I'm me?"

"Yes," she confirmed.

"Your Prince Charming," Jane added.

He stared at her intently, offering up a lazy smile. If that wasn't hypnosis… Lisbon tried hard to fight the sudden force that seemed to pull her towards him. Then, Jane reached out, gently caressing her cheek with one finger before turning around and leaving her office without another word.


	2. Lipstick

**Thank you for your reviews.**

**I translated this story scene and Afterglow04 corrected it.**

**Happy reading !**

**02. Lipstick**

Lisbon was in her office, reading the latest case report she had just finished. She'd been staring at the computer screen for over two hours now and her eyes were beginning to skip lines.

"Interrogation of Mr Lucas Treyis by agent Grace Van Pelt." She read the first part again. "Oh, of course not, it was Cho," she mumbled.

"Do you often talk to yourself?"

She recognized Jane's voice immediately as he stepped into her office, but she didn't take her eyes off the screen, too focused on her work.

"Interrogation of Mr Lucas Treyis by agent Kimball Cho. That's better," she said. "Sorry Jane, I was concentrating. What were you saying?"

She briefly looked at him before turning her gaze back to the case report.

"You've been working on that for the last two hours. Do you need some help?" Jane asked kindly.

"No, I can manage. I'm a little tired and I seem to have made some mistakes when I typed this, so I need to correct them," Lisbon explained. "What are you still doing here at this hour, though? Are you going to sleep here? Oh God, I referred to Lucas Treyis as "she" in this entire paragraph…"

"Grace is still here as well," Jane answered.

Lisbon looked away from her computer to find Van Pelt still at her desk, apparently doing some kind of research. Strange. She turned back to the report in front of her and let out a frustrated sigh upon discovering more silly little mistakes.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

"Lisbon, go home, you can finish that tomorrow. You didn't get much sleep last night, did you?"

"No…" Lisbon answered, turning off her computer.

"Nightmares?"

Lisbon had in fact slept very little the previous night, but she didn't really intend to share that with anyone, least of all Jane. She racked her brain for a somewhat believable lie as she walked around her desk, coming to a halt in front of him.

"I'm fine, I just…"

She suddenly stopped, staring intently at Jane's lips.

"What?" he asked.

"Is that lipstick?" she exclaimed, half-smiling, half-curious.

"No," Jane said, wiping the corner of his mouth, slightly embarrassed.

"Yes it is!" Lisbon countered, smiling. "I recognize lipstick when I see it. Who did you kiss?"

"No one…"

Lisbon gave him a piercing look, hoping it would make him crack and offer up a name. But he merely avoided her gaze.

"Come on, tell me who she is, I won't tell anyone.'

Jane started laughing when he detected the pleading note in her voice.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because," Lisbon shrugged.

"Tell you what. I'll give you the name of the woman whose lipstick this is, if you…"

Lisbon waited, suddenly apprehensive as Jane appeared to be deep in thought.

"… if you tell me what kept you awake last night," he finished his sentence.

"Well, I was going to explain it to you. I just stayed up late watching a horror movie and then I couldn't sleep," Lisbon answered casually.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I should've specified," Jane apologized, raising one hand with a smile. "I want the name of the man who was in your bed last night, preventing you from sleeping."

Surprised, Lisbon half-opened her mouth as her cheeks flushed. How did he know?

"No one… no one was in my bed… it was the movie…" she stammered.

"Come on, fair play, Lisbon!" Jane laughed. "I know there's a man involved. Yesterday, you wore a men's leather jacket all day and you thought I wouldn't notice? I'm a mentalist for crying out loud. So, who is he?"

He leaned in to look in her eyes, making sure she wouldn't lie to him.

"He was… somebody."

"A name for a name, Lisbon."

Lisbon looked down at her shoes and said in a murmur, "His name is Esteban. He's a college friend."

"Oh…" Jane smiled, happy to have received the answer he'd been looking for. "Are you in love?"

"Hey!" Lisbon became annoyed, blushing again. "A name for a name! I told you he was a friend, which is already sharing too much. It's your turn!"

"Okay. This lipstick belongs to Grace. She lent it to me so I could squeeze this information out of you," he grinned.

"What? Please tell me you're kidding."

"It's true!" Jane laughed at her. "But rest assured, I won't tell anyone."

"You tricked me!"

Jane nodded, an apologetic smile crossing his face.

"Anyway, he's just passing through," Lisbon explained. "He lives in London, he's going back tomorrow morning."

Jane nodded, pleased he'd been able to get an answer and obviously much more amused than Lisbon, who was starting to feel slightly uncomfortable. _You have to take control of the situation_, she told herself, _and make him just as uncomfortable._ She reached out and gently wiped her thumb across Jane's bottom lip.

"There's still some lipstick here…"

Jane let her wipe away the rest of it before he stepped back.

"Thank you."

A look passed between them that only they could understand. A few seconds of quiet contemplation and understanding. Then Jane spoke up.

"I'll go give Grace her lipstick back."

He turned around, opening the door.

"Good night, Jane," Lisbon said.

He turned around to face her, a meaningful look in his eyes, all traces of a smile gone.

"Yes, thank you. Sleep well, Lisbon. Don't tire yourself too much; you still have work to do tomorrow."

He stepped back into the bullpen, leaving her to ponder the meaning behind his words. He could have just said _'don't see him again'_, it would've been much clearer.

"Jane!" Lisbon called, while he was almost next to Van Pelt's desk.

He turned around to see her motioning him back into her office.

"To answer your question, I'm not in love."

Lisbon felt a shiver run along her spine when Jane leaned in, his face right in front of hers, blue eyes staring intently into her green ones. He held her gaze for a few seconds, causing Lisbon to unconsciously hold her breath, afraid to move.

"I believe you," he finally said. "Why did you want to tell me that?"

"Why did you want to know?"

He sent a grin her way, which she matched with one of her own, revealing one of the adorable dimples at the corner of her mouth. Then he left her office a second time, joining Van Pelt who'd been surreptitiously watching the two of them from the corner of her eye.

"So?" she asked when Jane gave her lipstick back.

"It worked."

"And?"

"An old school friend who'll be back in Europe tomorrow." Jane explained, self-assured.

"Good." Van Pelt nodded.

Jane gave a small smile.

"Yea, it's good."


	3. What if

**Thank you for your reviews! I didn't translate this story, Afterglow04 did. Thanks to her.**

**And happy reading !**

**03. What if…**

Lisbon put the last file in the bottom drawer and stood up with a relieved sigh.

_Yes!_

She stood back to admire her work. The file cabinet containing all of her case report copies was now perfectly organised, all files in chronological order, damaged folders had been repaired or replaced and she'd even put labels on everything. She heard someone knock on her office door.

"Come in!"

"Boss," Cho began.

"Look at that!" she exclaimed, while pointing at the cabinet.

"Good job," Cho commented. "There's a man here to see you."

"Alright, where is he?" she asked, her back still towards the door.

"I'm here."

Lisbon instantly recognised the voice, but she didn't turn around. Her hands began to tremble and images flashed before her eyes, chasing away all of the satisfaction she'd felt only a moment before upon completing her work. She heard a muttered "I'll leave you both" before the door closed. She rested her hands on her desk, terrified at having to turn around and face the man who had hated her for so long.

"What are you doing here?"

Her voice was shaking and she made no effort to disguise it, too shocked by his presence.

"Hey, sis. I actually came to ask for your forgiveness."

Lisbon looked up as she tried to push away the memories slowly creeping in, making her heart ache.

"If you could at least…look at me? Teresa?"

Her brother lowered his tone of voice and she thought she heard a trace of fear and disappointment. Slowly, she turned around. He hadn't changed. Except maybe for a few more wrinkles here and there, and he'd clearly put on some weight. She met his gaze and couldn't detect even the smallest hint of anger, or hatred.

"I'm the one who should…," she tried to say before tears completely blurred her vision. "I'm so sorry, Tommy…"

He closed the distance between them, quickly putting his arms around her, enveloping her in a hug before her knees gave way beneath her.

"When I saw mom…and that respirator and…when I realised dad wouldn't take care of you three, I…I told myself you shouldn't have to see her like that. It was horrible, Tommy, I didn't want that to be your last memory of her."

Lisbon cried warm tears, supported by her brother's strong, soothing arms.

"I know, Teresa, I know. I get it now."

"I'm so sorry I prevented you from seeing her."

"And I'm sorry about being mad about that for so long. I'm angry with myself for having wasted so much time hating you, while the only one who was ever really responsible for it all was that fucking drunk driver."

Tommy rubbed his sister's back one more time before she released herself from his embrace, wiping her eyes.

"Let's forget all of that, okay?" he asked her.

"Okay. I just have one question; why today? Why now, Tommy?"

"I shouldn't really tell you but…I received a letter from one of your friends. I don't know who it was from, because they only signed it 'a friend of Teresa's'," Tommy added, smiling. "And he or she specifically said I shouldn't mention it to you but I figure if they're a friend of yours, then that someone definitely knows you and means well."

Lisbon frowned as she thought about this. She didn't have any girlfriends. Well, she did, there was Van Pelt who was by all means a very sensible woman and definitely capable of such a thing, but not where her superior was concerned.

"The letter wasn't very long. But from what I gathered, your dying wish would have been for me to patch things up with the others and apparently you said you'd forgiven me for everything that happened in the past. I know you're not actually dead, but it did make me realise that you could die at any given moment."

"Especially with the consultant who's currently part of my team, he's the devil in disguise," Lisbon added with a smile.

"In any case, whoever wrote that letter is obviously someone who cares about you. But apparently he or she doesn't want to be thanked."

Lisbon's smile slowly vanished as her brother's words registered in her mind. Who did she know that absolutely detested any form of gratitude?

"So, well…here I am. I haven't seen the others yet but I'm planning on visiting them this week."

She smiled and pointed at the picture of her and her three brothers that was prominently placed on her desk.

"You're never far away, I've always got you close."

"Me too, all of you are in my wallet."

"There's hardly any room in a wallet! I'm probably choking," she joked.

Outside of the office, Rigsby, Van Pelt and Cho were trying to discern what was going on behind Lisbon's closed door. Every now and then, Van Pelt surreptitiously tried to look inside.

"They're laughing, it looks like it's going well. You're sure that's her brother, Cho?"

"He looks a little like her," he explained.

"Yea, maybe."

"Hey everyone!"

"Hey, Jane. No, wait! Don't go in…"

Van Pelt had wanted to stop Jane but he'd already come to a halt when he noticed who was inside Lisbon's office. He just stood staring for a moment, a seemingly happy smile on his face, before turning around.

"I'll go make a cup of tea."

"Jane, wait! Do you know who that is?" Van Pelt asked curiously.

"No…"

Then the consultant disappeared just as quickly as he'd come in.

"He knows," Cho replied.

The door to Lisbon's office suddenly opened and she came out, followed closely by her brother, guiding him in the direction of the others.

"Here's three members of my team already. This here is Cho, that's Rigsby and there's Van Pelt. This is my little brother, Tommy."

"You're not required to say 'little', you know."

Lisbon smiled at him before addressing her colleagues.

"Where's Jane?"

"Hiding in the kitchen," Cho said with a small hint of a smile.

Lisbon frowned and directed her brother towards the kitchen. Jane had his back to the door, staring intently at the kettle without even really acknowledging it. He heard footsteps slowly approaching and took a deep breath. He turned around and saw both Lisbon's walking up to him. The petite brunette looked at him, meeting his gaze and Jane could see a mixture of gratitude and happiness reflected in her eyes. She slowly walked up to him, and before he could do anything, she put her arms around his neck, resting her chin on his shoulder.

Jane lifted his hands, as if to signal he didn't have anything to do with her brother suddenly showing up.

"Is there a reason for this?" he asked, a small smile playing on his lips as her hair lightly tickled his neck.

"Shut up, I know it was you."

Jane looked at Tommy reproachfully, but the smile stayed firmly in place. Finally, he put his hands on Lisbon's back and closed his eyes, trying to savour this moment.

"Thank you," she murmured.

She let go as Tommy came up to them.

"This is him," Lisbon said. "Patrick Jane."

"The devil in disguise?" her brother repeated her earlier words.

Lisbon bit her bottom lip, silently berating herself for ever having opened her mouth, especially to her brother.

"What? You told him I'm the devil in disguise?" Jane said incredulously.

"Oh, don't you dare claim otherwise."

Jane pointed at himself, pretending to be surprised and feigning innocence before turning around to face Tommy.

"I hope we can get to know each other. What would you say to having a drink one of these days to discuss Lisbon? If you give me some compromising information on her…"

"Hey!" Lisbon said indignantly. "I'm never leaving the two of you alone together, is that clear?"

"I think we'll get along great," Tommy said as he shook Jane's hand, pointedly ignoring his sister's annoyed look.

"Okay, stop! I'm taking you back," Lisbon said while she started pushing him out of the kitchen.

She quickly looked over her shoulder and mouthed a "wait for me here" at Jane before walking out. Jane just smiled as he poured the boiling water into his cup.

"I'm happy I got to see you. I'll call you later, you're coming to dinner at my place tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," Lisbon agreed, wrapping her arms around her brother one more time, giving him a final squeeze before the elevator doors opened.

"He likes you."

"Who?"

"The devil in disguise."

"Yea, we get on well," she said, briefly looking away.

"No, you know that's not what I meant…"

"Oh, don't start! You already spent plenty of time teasing me when we were younger."

"Well, I need to make up for lost time!"

"Not like that!"

He shrugged as he laughed and disappeared into the elevator, the doors slowly closing. Lisbon walked back to the break room and found Jane still leaning against the counter, waiting for her, tea in hand.

"I should probably warn you about Tommy."

"Go ahead," Jane replied, smiling.

"He's a bit of a romantic, and adores all kinds of romantic stories. When he was younger, he used to tease me endlessly, especially when it came to boys I dated. And even those I didn't date…And so he'll probably try to set me up with Cho, Rigsby and every other guy who's ever talked to me."

Jane laughed and very nearly choked on his tea. He turned around to put his cup on the table.

"Go on."

"And…given the circumstances…," she continued, while a soft blush appeared on her cheeks.

"I'll be first in line," he finished.

He laughed when noticing her obvious embarrassment before taking his cup of tea off the table.

"I think it'll be fun," he said while lightly brushing his fingers across her hand. "Don't you?"

The smile he shot in her direction before leaving her alone was making her head spin, making her question the meaning behind his words. Before this moment, she'd always been convinced that Jane was definitely not ready to rebuild his life with another woman.

But what if she'd been wrong?


	4. Postit

**Thank you for your reviews! I'm glad you like my stories.**

**The fourth one had been translated by me and corrected by Afterglow04. Thanks to her.**

_**Happy reading**_

**4. Post-it**

Jane closed his front door, heaving a sigh of relief. A criminal murdered, a victim who'd been partially guilty, a difficult case, and an agitated Lisbon. He and the rest of the team had taken four long days to round up the latest case, investigating one wrong track after another, and their boss had been worked-up about everything, no exceptions. But at least now it was all over.

The consultant took off his jacket, throwing it over the back of the couch. When he plopped down next to it, he noticed a bright yellow piece of paper sticking out of its pocket. He tore off the Post-It and observed with some surprise that it was the very same one he'd stuck on the bottle of vodka that had been hidden in the top drawer of Lisbon's desk. He'd discovered it on the first night of the case, quickly understanding that the next days would prove to be extremely long and unproductive. And when he'd seen Lisbon, overworked and in a constant state of irritation, he'd been afraid she would succumb to the dark side. So he'd briefly thought of which words to use before deciding to write 'Do not touch' on the bottle of alcohol, and putting a bar of dark chocolate right next it, which had been accompanied by the following message: 'Eat me'. He smiled when he discovered a pink Post-It stuck to the 'Eat me' one, immediately recognising Lisbon's handwriting:

"Thanks. P.S.: for future reference, my favourite guilty pleasure is dark chocolate with hazelnuts."

He stuck the pink Post-It onto his fridge, while contemplating the fact that Lisbon had apparently thought it useful to hang onto the 'Do not touch' message as a reminder. He congratulated himself once more for having phrased it in a playful manner, which had probably helped. He looked at the Post-It once more with smiling eyes.

"With hazelnuts," he read out loud. "Duly noted, Lisbon."

At the exact same time, Lisbon sat in her living room watching TV, finishing up the last of his bar of chocolate, wondering with a small smile on her lips if Jane had found her little message.


	5. Special rules

Thank you very much for your reviews !

I hope you'll like this story too.

Happy reading !

**5. Special rules**

_I didn't forget your birthday either…_

That was the note Jane found just outside his door when he came home. Right next to it sat a neatly wrapped gift and he bent down to pick it up, smiling broadly. When he stood back up, he was surprised by its weight.

"Whoa!"

His first guess had been a book, but given its heaviness it would have to be a dictionary or encyclopaedia. No one had wished him a happy birthday. Not because they didn't care, they simply didn't know. And Jane had been more than happy not to remind them and let it go by unnoticed. In any case, ever since the death of his wife and child he'd never quite felt like celebrating another year gone by without them. Despite the fact that Lisbon knew it was his birthday, she'd been considerate enough not to tell anyone about it. Yet, she'd still wanted to show him she hadn't forgotten.

Too curious to wait any longer, Jane didn't bother making a cup of tea first. He immediately started tearing away the paper on which she'd written 'Happy Birthday' and he couldn't contain a surprised laugh when he looked at the massive book in his lap, titled: 'CBI Rulebook'. He chuckled at Lisbon's boldness, realising he must have finally crossed the line one time too many for her to give him the actual rulebook on his birthday.

"Lisbon, Lisbon, Lisbon…," he muttered, thoroughly amused and happy at the same time.

He turned to the first page and examined Lisbon's note.

"_If you ask me, it's not always complete or clear enough. Also, please forgive my small additions. Your superior, agent Lisbon."_

He didn't understand what she meant by additions, so he turned to the beginning just to have a look. Sure enough he wasn't disappointed. He saw that she had written something at the top of the very first page.

''_including Mister Patrick Jane'_

She had drawn an arrow below, to show him she'd meant to include it in the next sentence.

'…and it is strictly forbidden for all CBI employees to voice any premature conclusions in front of a suspect and/or a witness.'

The arrow expertly inserted her words into the phrase, right after 'employees', causing him to laugh out loud. Upon flipping through the rest of the book, he noticed that Lisbon had added little sentences and phrases everywhere; in the middle of pages, on the side, and sometimes even diagonally across. On a few occasions she'd written something in big, capital letters. He went back to the beginning and started to read.

'A subordinate should respect his/her superiors.'

On the side, Lisbon had added: _'Even if said subordinate is right and his superior is wrong. Therefore, it is not allowed for the subordinate to criticise or tease his superior in any way!'_ She had clearly circled the word 'tease' and he smiled. He couldn't get over the gift he was currently holding in his hands. In essence, it was a book filled with little notes about him written by Lisbon. Granted, it basically served as a reminder that he wasn't allowed to do a hundred different things, but even if he disappointed her every so often, he wouldn't take anything literally. He'd probably continue to break the rules just as much as before, if not even more. Then again, she probably knew that.

He continued reading.

'Similarly, a subordinate has to keep his/her immediate superior informed of his/her actions at all times.'

Right underneath, Lisbon had written: _'Especially if said action is illegal, dangerous or if it can jeopardise the superior's job and/or reputation.'_ 'Reputation' had been underlined four times. A bit further he found:

'Under no circumstance should a CBI employee ever let his/her personal life interfere with his/her professional career.'

'_Example'_ was Lisbon's observation. _'A consultant has no right to question his superior about her personal life. Regardless of his innate curiosity.'_ Jane couldn't stop smiling at all of Lisbon's observations, each one more affectionate than the other. Because despite all of the reprimanding, he knew that behind each note, one of her smiles or little smirks was hidden.

He quickly kept reading.

'No violence, insult or revenge against a witness, suspect or criminal will be tolerated at the CBI. Failure to comply will result in being fined, arrested and/or fired. Lisbon had underlined 'revenge', 'criminal' and 'arrested' without further comments. Jane swallowed when he realised that these particular words hadn't been hiding a smile; only two emerald eyes filled with sadness. He quickly moved on to the next page.

'A superior will always take responsibility for his/her subordinate's actions or mistakes when reporting to his/her own superior.' Here, she had drawn another arrow, writing in the margin: _'Therefore, agent Teresa Lisbon is allowed to abuse her consultant when she feels it's necessary. A punch in the nose is optional and always free of charge.'_ Jane burst out laughing once more. How on earth had she come up with all of this? He found himself falling for this newly discovered sense of humour of hers, which definitely had a charm to it.

He turned to the part that was titled: 'Security in the office'.

'In the event of a fire or a flooding, each CBI employee should follow the instructions which can be found at the back of each office door to ensure everyone's safety.' Lisbon had drawn an asterisk next to the sentence, leading him to the bottom of the page where she had added: _'It speaks for itself that each subordinate should give immediate priority to his direct superior. Saving your superior is saving yourself.'_ Jane laughed cheerfully and noted that he couldn't seem to rid himself of his smile. He skipped some pages that didn't have any notes, until he reached the next one.

'An office designated to a particular CBI superior is his/her private office. Shared spaces such as, break rooms, rest rooms, etc. are for everyone's use.' Lisbon had included: _'As a reminder, and for the general benefit of all, let's not forget that the brown leather couch belongs to Mr Patrick Jane._' At least she'd given him that much, he silently noticed, which was nice.

He kept on reading the rulebook with all his appended special rules until somewhere after midnight. Lisbon had probably spent an insane amount of time writing all of these crazy additions, but he was enjoying reading them so much that it was well worth her effort. Finally, as he lay stretched out on his bed with a cup of tea to keep him company, he reached the last part of the book, closing off with the 'Work' section.

'Any CBI employee handing in his/her resignation should at least give one month's notice.' Lisbon had crossed out most of the sentence, starting at 'handing' and had replaced it with _'shouldn't resign if he likes his superior. In fact, a respected and appreciated subordinate handing in his resignation could directly lead to his superior being overcome by sadness, inevitably causing her own motivation to decrease. Therefore, it is obvious that no resignation will be accepted.'_ Jane suddenly felt a lump in his throat. Maybe that particular sentence was having too much of an effect on him but his emotions seemed to be getting the better of him. Between the fear of not knowing how the Red John case would end, and his happiness at seeing how much Lisbon clearly appreciated him, he felt as if he were constantly being pulled in different directions. He hadn't changed his mind, he would kill Red John.

But Lisbon was dangerously close to tipping the scale and he didn't know whether he liked it or not.

Lisbon was putting her tub of ice cream back into the freezer when her cell phone started vibrating on her coffee table. She'd been waiting for this moment all evening, crossing her fingers that the received message would be one from Jane. She practically ran back to her living room, picking up her phone. "1 message received".

"_I won't tell you how much your gift has truly touched me, Lisbon, because I would be giving away too much. I hope you're having a great night. Jane." _

A smile appeared on her lips as she read the message. She'd definitely had her fair share of fun while creating his gift and she suspected Jane would love it, but there was still a part of her that had been a bit apprehensive about his reaction. She had hesitated before putting it by his door, because she hadn't been able to shake the feeling that through her words, her private thoughts, she'd been offering him a part of herself. Even if all of it only related to the CBI rules and Jane, and not her in any way. But then again, she was the only link between Jane and the rules. And in some way she liked and respected both, one just as much as the other. Even if, as an agent, she was probably supposed to choose the rules.

But Jane was dangerously close to tipping the scale and she didn't know whether she liked it or not.


	6. Vipers

Thank you so much for all your reviews, they make me smile.

Merry Christmas!

And happy reading!

**6. Vipers**

"Don't worry, it shouldn't take more than 15 minutes, we're nearly there."

The sheriff of a remote town was guiding Jane and Lisbon to a victim who had been murdered in the middle of a forest, and its tall trees were obscuring the view. Big leaves kept falling in front of them unexpectedly, causing to stumble on hidden roots every now and then. The ground was slightly muddy, forcing them to continuously keep their eyes downcast and carefully plant their feet on solid ground while simultaneously pushing branches out of the way and following the sheriff so they wouldn't get lost.

"Everything alright, Lisbon?" Jane asked.

He turned around to sneak a peek at her, who was last in line.

"Yea, I'm okay, but I'd rather you look in front of you and watch where you're going." Lisbon replied.

They kept walking as the sheriff informed them about the victim. Since it was a relatively small village, she had been known and loved by everyone.

"Was there someone she didn't particularly get along with?" Lisbon asked.

"No, I don't think so…Watch out, be careful here!" the sheriff suddenly exclaimed, slightly alarmed. "There might be vipers in this part of the woods. Over there, I can see one of them on that rock and there's probably more lurking."

"Could they attack us?" Jane asked, laughing.

"No, but if you step on them they can get angry."

"Oh, did you hear that, Lisbon? Man-eating vipers! Cho will be jealous…"

Jane was already expecting one of her standard sarcastic remarks but no one answered. He turned around somewhat worried, and noticed Lisbon standing a few feet back with her eyes closed, an indescribable look on her face.

"Lisbon?"

Jane quickly approached her, bending down to look into her eyes.

"Lisbon, what's wrong?"

"I…I can't," she whispered, shaking her head.

"Don't tell me you're scared of these little guys!"

"I don't know how big…I can't, that's all."

"Is this a joke? 'Cause it's really funny, I love it," Jane added, smiling. "But we're losing track of the sheriff, you know."

Lisbon's breathing considerably sped up.

"I know… I know…"

Realising that she was in fact absolutely terrified, Jane took a step closer and put a reassuring hand on her should. However, Lisbon jumped and quickly moved away.

"Lisbon, they're tiny vipers," Jane calmly explained. "They don't actually eat humans, I was joking before."

"I know, Jane," Lisbon whimpered, still keeping her eyes firmly closed. "I know…"

Her breath was becoming more shallow by the minute and Jane was started to get worried when he glanced ahead of him, the sheriff no longer in sight. Apparently, he hadn't noticed the both of them were no longer following.

"Lisbon, we need to go now."

"I can't…"

"Okay, just calm down, try to relax, take my hand and we'll go," he said while gently taking her hand in his.

She jerked away, keeping both hands close to her body and clenching them into fists.

"I'm telling you that I can't!"

"Lisbon…"

"I'm trying! I'm trying, but I can't! I'm trying, Jane…"

Jane started looking around him, not able to detect a path or walkway that would lead them out of this dense forest. Since they had lost the sheriff, the only other option would be to keep on walking straight on. He faced Lisbon again, quickly coming to the understanding that she was practically paralysed with fear and would, under no circumstances, want to keep on walking.

"Alright, I'm going to carry you."

"No!"

"Lisbon, it's not as if we have a choice in the matter," Jane said in a firmer tone of voice. "I'm going to put my arm behind your back and the other behind your knees to pick you up. Don't panic, okay?"

"I'm sorry, I can't move," Lisbon muttered.

"I know. That's why you have to let me do it. I'm putting my arm behind your back, can you feel that?"

"Yes."

"And the other behind your knees. Put your arm around my neck."

Lisbon moved her arm awkwardly, clinging to Jane for all she was worth.

"Perfect. Let's go." Jane said while lifting her off the ground.

He started to move forward, focussing on where to put his feet and avoid any vipers that might be hanging around. Except for the one the sheriff had pointed out to them before, he couldn't detect any in their vicinity.

"Everything's good, Lisbon, we're moving forward. Hang on."

"Are there others?"

"What?"

"Snakes, are there more snakes?"

Lisbon was nearly clinging to him for dear life and if he didn't reassure her soon that they were all gone, she would probably never open her eyes.

"I can see a couple more, but they're all calm and basically harmless," Jane lied.

The moment the words had left his mouth, he couldn't help but wonder silently what exactly had led him to say that. Most likely because holding Lisbon in his arms like this was rather nice, and knowing that she needed him more than anyone in this moment had a very pleasant effect.

"You were just too tired to go any further, weren't you?"

"What?" she said indignantly, still hanging onto Jane.

"Come on, admit it. It was all an act so you could get me to carry you, right?"

"Absolutely not! I was terrified, I couldn't move!"

"You probably figured it would be far more enjoyable to finish the rest of our walk in my arms," Jane teased.

"Put me down!"

"Oh, a snake!"

"No wait, don't put me down!"

Jane burst out laughing at the same time as Lisbon finally understood he'd been playing her all along. She slowly opened her eyes and looked around them, while Jane kept moving forward at a steady pace.

"There's no more snakes around, are there?" she asked while silently berating herself for being so incredibly gullible.

"I have no idea," Jane playfully replied.

"Come on, put me down, I can't see any."

"Yet, the presence of these leaves on the ground indicates that there was a snake here recently," Jane remarked, seemingly slightly alarmed.

"Really?" Lisbon asked, staring at his face to try and detect the truth.

Jane turned and looked into her eyes, their faces only inches apart. Lisbon could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and she couldn't prevent a shiver from running down her spine, trying to convince herself it was only a result of her earlier panic attack.

"What are you doing?" A voice suddenly called out ahead of them.

Jane smiled softly.

"That's a good question…," he muttered without taking his eyes off Lisbon.

Lisbon could feel a blush forming on her cheeks.

"Put me down," she retorted.

"Well, what happened?" The sheriff asked as he reached the two of them.

"The lady here appears to be terrified of snakes, so I had to carry her." Jane casually explained, his look still trained on Lisbon, who was still comfortably nestled in his arms.

"You mean the vipers? But that was half a mile ago. Come on, lovebirds, wake up! Let's go, or we won't get there by nightfall."

The sheriff turned around, leading the way once more.

"Shall I put you down now, my lovebird?" Jane asked with a teasing smile on his lips.

"Yes and hurry up! We'd better stick close to the sheriff this time."

Jane gently put Lisbon back down, somewhat reluctantly as she couldn't help but verify that all snakes were in fact out of sight. Then, she turned around to face him.

"And don't _ever_ call me lovebird again," she said with a stern look, making Jane laugh out loud.

"Only once a week?" he begged.

"No!" Lisbon retorted, briskly walking ahead with Jane following close behind.

"Once a month?"

"No!"

"Once a…"

"No!"

"Come on, _lovebird_…"

"Jane!"


	7. Sweet melodies

Thank you so much! Hope you'll like this one too.

I did the translation and Afterglow04 corrected it.

_Thank you Afterglow04!_

Happy reading.

**7. Sweet melodies**

Lisbon sat down behind her desk, forcing herself to concentrate for two minutes. Where on earth had she put that case report? She mentally went back to the night before, when she'd slipped on her jacket with the report firmly in her hands. She had wanted to take it home and finish it off, but when she'd arrived she'd noticed she must have forgotten it at the office. Yet, she couldn't seem to find it anywhere. She'd definitely closed the door to her office behind her and she was sure she'd still had it at that point, so she must've put it down in the bullpen somewhere.

She stood up, surreptitiously looking through the blinds to check that Hightower was nowhere to be seen – because what would she say? "I seem to have lost a report, Ma'am" - before walking out. Only Jane was there, stretched out on his couch with a far-off look in his eyes. Van Pelt and Rigsby had left to question the neighbour of their recent victim and she had exceptionally given Cho this day off, since he'd asked for it over a month ago. She approached the first desk and started looking for the missing folder.

Hearing her sigh loudly several times, Jane rose from his couch, coming over to join her.

"What are you doing?"

"I lost a case report."

"Here?"

"Well, after careful deduction, I've decided it can't be anywhere else but here," she declared.

"What colour is it?"

"Green. Dark green."

"Dark green. Let's see…"

Lisbon briefly looked at him, finding it more than a little strange that Jane suddenly seemed so eager to help her look for it. But he appeared to be in a good mood, so she kept her musings to herself. While he approached Rigsby's desk, she could hear him humming softly.

"Are you actually humming?" she asked, smiling.

"That's how it would appear," Jane answered. "But I can't remember what song this is…," he added.

"You don't remember the title of this song?" Lisbon said incredulously. "It's '_I will always love you_', Jane," she mockingly clarified.

"Why thank you, Lisbon. Me too."

She rolled her eyes, slightly annoyed as she realized he was once again just teasing her. Of course he knew the song.

"I would like to remind the both of you that any kind of romantic relationship between two CBI employees is strictly forbidden," a voice suddenly remarked behind them.

Lisbon and Jane turned around from where they stood together, bent over Rigsby's desk, to discover that Hightower was looking at them with a slightly worried look on her face.

"What do you mean, Ma'am?" Lisbon asked non-comprehendingly.

As for Jane, he understood Madeleine's reaction perfectly and was immediately amused by the situation.

"I don't know, Lisbon; I walk in here to hear you make some kind of declaration to Patrick, and I felt that maybe I ought to remind you of that particular rule."

"Oh, no Ma'am, I can assure you it's a simple misunderstanding." Lisbon defended herself, unable to prevent a blush from creeping up her cheeks.

"Alright well, whatever you say. I just got off the phone with the DA's office; they asked to send over your latest case report, so if you could do that soon, they would appreciate it."

"Absolutely, I'll do it right now."

"Thank you." Hightower said, before walking back to her office.

Lisbon turned around, shooting Jane a reproachful look, but he simply grinned back at her.

"It wasn't my fault!" he complained, putting his hands up in an innocent manner.

"Oh, of course it wasn't," she replied sarcastically. "But you standing next to me, looking thoroughly amused, certainly didn't help."

"Well, what do you say we go find that report now?"

They returned to the task at hand, picking up various papers on everyone's desks, looking under printers and computers. Only a few minutes had passed, when she suddenly heard Jane humming a new tune. Lisbon immediately recognized '_Can't take my eyes off of you_', having listened to that particular song dozens of times in her younger years.

"Do you know that one?" Jane inquired.

"Yea...," she muttered, getting more frustrated by the minute as their search proved to be unsuccessful.

"I don't seem to remember the title of this one either, do you?"

She looked up at him absentmindedly, about to provide him with the answer, when she stopped. One embarrassing situation was definitely enough.

"Your little attempt at getting me to say the title is incredibly transparent, Jane. Of course you remember it."

Jane laughed and directed his most innocent-looking smile at her. He enjoyed making her uncomfortable far too much.

"Come on, I really don't remember," he begged. "It's the truth."

"Ask Hightower."

Jane laughed again as Lisbon followed him to Cho's desk, smirking at the mental image of their superior calmly informing Jane of a pop song's name.

"Here we go!" Jane suddenly exclaimed, pointing at Cho's desk chair.

He bent down, retrieving the dark green folder and waved it around triumphantly.

"Oh, of course! There was a call on Cho's line and I had to put it down. I must've simply forgotten about it and pushed the chair back under its desk," Lisbon berated herself.

"And given that Cho has the day off, nobody noticed," Jane finished her train of thought, handing her the report.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Lisbon opened the file to check if nothing was missing, before taking one last look at Jane and heading for her office. She had barely taken two steps when she heard his soft voice follow her as he sang the same tune, accompanied by the familiar lyrics this time.

"You're just too good to be true…I can't take my eyes off of you…"

She halted in the doorway, turning around to face him. She smirked and couldn't help but tease him as she asked, "Are you trying to seduce me?"

When Jane kept approaching, she walked into her office and before closing the door behind her, she laughingly exclaimed: "_I_ can!"

"Liar!" came Jane's muffled response through her closed door.

He sauntered over to his couch, lying back down with a silly grin on his lips as he pondered a few other song choices that could potentially embarrass Lisbon. 'Can't stop loving you' by Phil Collins came to mind, as did 'Kiss me' by Sixpence none the Richer, and even that slow, romantic song she loved so much; 'More than Words' by Extreme. How did that one go again? Ah, yes...

"Saying I love you  
Is not the words I want to hear from you  
It's not that I want you  
Not to say, but if you only knew  
How easy it would be to show me how you feel  
More than words is all you have to do to make it real  
Then you wouldn't have to say that you love me  
Cause I'd already know"

Yes, he could definitely have a lot more fun with this.


	8. Pink feathers

Thank you! This new story is funny, I like it and I hope you'll like it too. I translated it and Afterglow04 accurately corrected it, as usual. Thanks to her. _(Hope my English is correct ^^)_

_**Happy reading and happy New Year!**_

**8. Pink feathers**

The door to the hotel room where Lisbon sat waiting suddenly swung open as Jane rushed in, smiling at her triumphantly.

"It's okay, Cho arrested him! My perfect plan worked, as usual."

"What perfect plan?" Lisbon cried out furiously. "The one where you thought it would be a good idea to handcuff me to this bed so you could execute your master plan freely? Take these off, now!"

"Calm down, Lisbon, I only did it because otherwise you would never have let me carry it out...But not to worry, the killer has been arrested and will be behind bars soon. Isn't that what matters?"

"Sure, I'm positively glowing at the thought of you once again going behind my back and doing as you please. Do you realise that you endangered the young girl who was in that bastard's room? Did you even stop to think about that?"

"Of course I did, but I knew he wouldn't hurt her. She was just someone he used as an alibi every once in awhile."

Lisbon let a deep, frustrated sigh escape as she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to regain her composure.

"We would've caught him without your risky intervention, Jane," she said in a calmer tone of voice. "Maybe not today, but tomorrow, we would've caught him. We'd been hiding in this room since yesterday, following his every move and we were about to catch him in the act."

"But instead, we caught him today!" Jane said enthusiastically.

Lisbon stopped trying to argue with him. All she wanted right now was to get these damn things off and question the creep until he confessed everything so she could properly close this case.

"Excuse me if I'm not completely overjoyed, give me a few days," she replied sarcastically. "Now come on, get me out of these."

"Yea...about that…"

"What? Oh, don't tell me you've lost the keys?" Lisbon asked, her left wrist still firmly attached to the side of the bed.

"I might have," Jane answered, biting his lower lip in an attempt not to laugh at the horror-stricken look on her face.

"You've got to be kidding me! You're completely insufferable! Where could you possibly have lost them?"

"Well, during the arrest, it all kind of happened in a hurry," Jane explained after getting control over his features. "But don't worry, both Rigsby and Van Pelt are looking for them, so I'm sure they'll turn up soon."

He sat down beside her on the bed, as she shot him an angry look.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay far away from me," she said, annoyance and frustration clearly detectable in her voice.

"Please, Lisbon," Jane reassured her. "Not to worry. If we don't find them we can always just call a locksmith."

"Absolutely not. I don't want anyone to see me like this."

"It's not a big deal...," he trailed off.

"Not a big deal?" she exclaimed, indignantly. "Patrick Jane used fluffy pink handcuffs to tie me up to the bed! Fluffy pink handcuffs, Jane! And you're telling me it's not a big deal?"

Jane couldn't help it; he burst out laughing when he understood exactly why Lisbon was so upset and embarrassed about this.

"Well, we don't necessarily have to tell anyone it was me," he offered.

"Oh, really? And what would you suggest I say? 'I wanted to try out these pink feathered handcuffs so I just tied myself to the bed'? You're right, that sounds so much better."

Jane laughed again.

"Stop that."

"I just figured," he said in between laughing, "that if Hightower heard about my tying you to this bed using handcuffs with fluffy pink feathers, she might get the wrong idea."

"Oh, God," she groaned, already feeling her cheeks turning red at the thought alone. "Do _not_ say it like that."

"Lisbon, there's absolutely no need to be embarrassed, it's simply a combination of unfortunate circumstances; nobody will know."

"Yea, except you," she declared, scooting a bit further away from him.

Jane noticed and chuckled, promising that he'd never do such a thing again. As long as he could contain himself, of course.

"I have to tell you something…," he said after a moment's pause.

"What?" Lisbon asked with some apprehension.

She involuntarily shivered as Jane seemed to make her feel even more uncomfortable just by changing his tone of voice.

"They're toy handcuffs," he simply stated.

"And what? You thought I wanted to play?"

"No, no," Jane smiled when he realised she'd misunderstood him. "What I meant is that it's a toy. They're not real. And they didn't really come with a set of keys..."

"So you're telling me...?" Lisbon prompted, trying to keep her anger at bay.

"That if you push the little white button under those 'pink feathers', as you affectionately called them, you'll be free."

She looked down, moving the soft furry feathers out of the way to find the small square button underneath. When she pressed down, she heard a distinct click and the handcuffs automatically sprang open. Lisbon removed her hand, relieved to have regained her freedom. She realised she could've had it back sooner if Jane hadn't felt the need to mess around with her.

"Oh, you think this is funny, don't you?"

Jane shrugged, dazzling her with his smile as if all of this was the most normal thing in the world. She grabbed the handcuffs and threw them in his direction.

"Here, you can have your toy back. Now let's go, we've lost enough time already!" she said tersely.

Jane stuffed them in his jacket pocket, turning off the lights and following Lisbon out into the hallway.

"I think I'll keep these as a souvenir," he whispered in her ear as he came up behind her.

"Oh, no…"

"What? I kind of love them, with all of their cute fluffy pink feathers. They remind me of you," he added when stepping into the elevator.

Lisbon pushed the button for the floor above them, jumping back out of the elevator as the doors slid closed, leaving Jane by himself.

"Lisbon!" Jane half-whined when he saw her grinning in front of him before the doors obscured his view.

"I'm taking the stairs. And you can go to the hell!" She stubbornly shouted.

"Actually, I'm going up, I'm on a stairway to heaven!" Jane shouted back, laughing. "Lisbon! Join me, won't you?"

Lisbon smiled when those last fading words reached her as the elevator took him upstairs. There was no middle ground where Jane was concerned; it was either heaven or hell.

And maybe, today had been a bit of heaven after all. Almost, at least.


	9. Well deserved rest

Sorry, I couldn't update sooner because I have some exams next week and I had to work a lot. So, I won't update next week either, but I will do it on the next week-end. I hope you understand what I'm saying ^^

Happy reading! And thank you for your so nice reviews

**9. Well-deserved rest**

As Rigsby sat down at his desk, he threw a quick look over his shoulder into Lisbon's office. He thought he could make out her silhouette behind the desk, but upon closer inspection it only proved to be Jane, who was comfortably leaning back in her chair, staring off into space. Rigsby figured he was probably waiting for Lisbon and as he turned on his computer, he walked to the break room, passing Lisbon who sighed loudly. She briefly looked at the younger agent before letting her eyes sweep the room, her gaze coming to a stop at Jane's couch. It looked awfully comfortable and she was just so very tired…

When Rigsby walked back in a couple of minutes late, candy bar and coffee firmly in his hands, he was more than a little surprised to find his boss apparently taking a nap on Jane's beloved friend. He thought it best not to interrupt or try and wake her up, seeing as he only had a little paperwork left before he could go home himself. In the end, it took him about half an hour and when he got up, he glanced over at Lisbon who now seemed to be sound asleep. Should he wake her up? Then he remembered Jane was still in Lisbon's office, and he decided to pass the task onto him. He gave a gentle knock when he walked in, discovering that Jane had moved to the couch as well, and he didn't stir when Rigsby walked closer. If he had to wake on of them up, he'd definitely choose Jane.

"Hey, Jane"

"Huh? What?" he started.

"Are you playing 'I'll be you and you'll be me' with Lisbon?" Rigsby asked, somewhat amused.

"Huh?"

"You fell asleep while you were waiting for Lisbon."

"Ah…"

"Who's currently asleep on your couch," Rigsby finished.

"What do you mean?"

" Lisbon. Asleep. Your couch," he summed up.

"Oh…"

"Well, I'm going home. See you tomorrow."

"Yea, yea, see you," Jane said absentmindedly.

He rubbed his eyes, switched off the night light in Lisbon's office and silently closed the door behind him. He quietly crossed the bullpen, approaching Lisbon, whose face was completely relaxed as she slept. She looked entirely peaceful, serene even…As his eyes swept over her, he noticed the trail of goosebumps on her arms and he walked over to the closet, taking out the plaid blanket he'd used occasionally. He silently unfolded it, covering her body to keep her warm. After he'd made himself a cup of tea, he settled himself at Van Pelt's desk, momentarily happy to simply watch her sleep. There was a part of him that thoroughly enjoyed the idea of Lisbon having fallen asleep on his couch, because it implied she felt safe and comfortable there. What he wouldn't have given at that moment to be able to read her mind and discover her dreams or nightmares. Maybe she had wanted to know what it felt like to actually sleep at the office, as he had done countless times. Jane found himself relaxing just by observing her; just to see her like this, completely freed from problems, cases and responsibilities. No suspects to question, no witnesses to protect, no reports to finish…just her and her dreams. He must've sat there, staring at her, for more than ten minutes. Once he'd carried his empty tea cup to the break room, he sneaked closer to the couch, intent on waking her up so she could go home. Yet, when he saw her curled up under the blanket, he didn't have the heart. He was overcome by the sudden desire to lie next to her and just share the serenity she seemed to exude. Instead, he bent down and placed a soft kiss on her temple as he muttered, "Good night," before switching off the lights and leaving the room.

Lisbon could feel something lightly tickling her neck and she relaxed as she felt herself being covered in warmth. Her mind seemed to float between reality and her dreamworld, but she instinctively understood someone had put a blanket on top of her. She thought only a few seconds had passed when she suddenly felt a pair of soft lips against her temple. She was too tired to even open her eyes and thank whoever was standing next to her, but the whispered "Good night" told her all she needed to know. She smiled in her sleep, convinced that tomorrow morning, she'd probably believe everything had been a dream.


	10. Dragonflies

Sorry I didn't update sooner, I have a lot of work in January! I'll have more time in February. I translated this story and Afterglow04 corrected it.

Happy reading!

**10. Dragonflies**

Jane was walking along the edge of the forest, back to his car, when he suddenly remembered what Lisbon had said earlier that morning. They had passed a lovely-looking bench made entirely of tree-trunks, right in front of a little stream that flowed calmly between the tall grass. Lisbon had come to a stop right in front of it, almost as if being pulled in by some sort of magnetic force. She'd opened her mouth, taking a breath and closing her eyes for only a few seconds, appearing lost in another world. But it was enough for Jane to take notice.

"Everything alright?" he'd asked.

"Yea, I…I just like this place. That's all."

She'd tried to answer by keeping an indifferent look etched across her face, but he had easily detected a slight touch of sorrow in her voice. Seeing as though the case hadn't been completely closed yet, he hadn't pressed the matter and they'd just continued on their way to the witness' house.

Yet, now that his mind wandered back to that moment, he was overcome by the desire to go back to that particular spot, even though he didn't know if it would help him understand. He abruptly cut off his walk, turning around to take a shortcut to his car. After a fifteen minute drive, he parked his car under a tree at the other side of the forest, having only a short walk ahead of him until he would reach his intended destination. As the sun was starting to hide behind a few clouds, he took his jacket and draped it over his arm. He quickly recognized the path they had all taken earlier that morning. Following it closely, it didn't take him long to hear the river's quiet song as it gently flowed along. He emerged out of the woods near the source of the stream, following the path alongside for about a mile. The sun came out of her hiding place, casting a soft and warm glow on his face as he vaguely saw the outline of the bench. The closer he got, the more he realised it wasn't the only outline he could distinguish; there appeared to be someone lying on top of it. It didn't take long for him to recognise exactly who was sprawled on top of the bench as he approached. Her long dark hair was pulled back, exposing her pretty, pale face to the sunshine, highlighting her lovely complexion. She'd put both of her hands under her cheek as she lay on her side, using them as a makeshift pillow. Her eyes were shining with unshed tears and she had a far-off look, staring at something next to the little river.

Jane came to a halt, standing behind the bench quietly. Her eyes were trained in front of her and the sun was shining down brightly, so he knew his shadow wouldn't betray his presence. He followed her gaze when he suddenly saw one of them. Then two. They were quickly joined by another one as he watched three dragonflies fly close to the water's surface, constantly ducking over and under each other. One of them had a distinct purple colour, the other two were bright blue. So that was what she'd been studying so closely...

"Dragonflies…," he whispered, keeping his voice low.

The minute Lisbon heard Jane's voice behind her, her heart started beating just a little faster. She didn't wonder much about how he'd managed to find her; she knew he'd obviously noticed her reaction to this place this morning. But judging by the way he'd softly uttered the word 'dragonflies', she realised he only now understood what exactly had attracted her and brought her here.

"It was our favourite hobby," she said in a tired, strained voice. "My mother and I used to spend a lot of time looking for places like these – lakes, streams, wetlands - to observe dragonflies in the summer. I hadn't seen one in such a long time. She used to say that everyone has their very own dragonfly and that mine was purple. Hers was always blue…"

Her voice broke as she trailed off, and seeing as she had nothing more to add, she decided to stop talking altogether. Jane understood the deeper meaning behind her words. She'd been catapulted back into the past when she'd discovered this spot, remembering carefree summer days. But when it came down to it, her mother was no longer there to share those moments with her. Jane walked closer, taking the remaining seat on the bench, right next to her head. As he silently sat down, they were both content to simply watch the beautiful insects as they darted across the river. Suddenly a fourth one appeared. It had wonderfully bright, orange shades and it was flying a bit higher than the others.

"That one's yours." Lisbon simply stated.

Jane smiled at her words, liking the idea of having his own dragonfly. And his was quite beautiful. They looked at the orange one invading the group of three, chasing the purple one – Lisbon's dragonfly – around in circles. An amused grin broke out on his face when, against all odds, the purple one seemed to surrender and the two dragonflies suddenly mated.

"Scratch that, I take it back," Lisbon muttered. "It's not yours."

Jane leaned forward a bit to get a closer look at her face, pleased to see his favourite dimple appear on her cheek. He smiled, suddenly remembering his jacket and he balled it up, nudging her gently.

"Here, take this," he said, handing it to Lisbon. "You can put it under your head."

She didn't have to think twice about the offer, raising her head to put his jacket underneath as she comfortably laid back down, putting her hands underneath in an attempt to warm them up.

"Thank you."

"I still like to think of the orange dragonfly as mine."

"If my mother were here, she'd say that it's definitely yours, since it appeared at the exact time you came over to watch them," Lisbon explained.

"So it's mine?"

"It's yours."

Jane stood back up after a few minutes, walking around the bench, looking at the colourful insects just a little longer. The purple and orange one were the only ones left, and they kept avoiding each other several times, leaving him to wonder what that might mean. Then he leaned forward, gently putting his hand on Lisbon's arm as if to remind her of his presence.

"Have a good night, Lisbon."

She suddenly felt as if the dragonflies had moved their chasing game to her stomach when she felt Jane's warm touch, making her eyes prickle with fresh tears. All of her emotions seemed to contradict each other: sadness, bliss, melancholy, relief and even a touch of fear. Fear of what? She couldn't say. The temperature was now dropping steadily, yet she didn't want to leave. Maybe her fear was tied to this, maybe she was simply afraid to leave. Fortunately, if she got cold she could always put on Jane's jacket, which would allow her to stay curled up on the bench just a bit longer.

"Good night, Jane."

He turned around, starting to walk away along the path and Lisbon noted with a wry smile that he hadn't even been gone for half a minute before the orange dragonfly disappeared into the tall grass.

The purple one was left behind, flying around all alone and confused, in search of its mate. And Lisbon couldn't prevent a single tear from rolling down her cheek.


	11. The colour of hope

Hi !

Thank you for all your reviews!

**Afterglow04** translated this story! Hope you'll like it.

Happy reading!

**The colour of hope**

Lisbon slammed the breaks as the light suddenly turned red in front of them.

"Whoa!" Jane exclaimed. "You're going to cause accidents like that."

"Then I'd finally be rid of you, given that you're currently sitting in the death seat," she replied with a rather mischievous look on her face.

"Oh, well, that's not very nice, Lisbon."

"Sorry, that was out before I knew it," she smirked.

They both shared a smile before Lisbon turned her eyes back to the road in front of her, focussing on the busy traffic. They drove past what looked like a pharmaceutical lab, which caused a few distinct memories to resurface in Lisbon's mind. Memories of one of the more peculiar cases they'd had in recent years, when a vial containing a poisonous virus had been broken in a lab, slowly killing a mother right in front of her husband and daughter's desperate eyes. During the investigation, Jane had made her believe they were all going to die, including the both of them. She recalled their conversation in her head and stopped at the part where Jane had asked for her phone, wanting to talk to Cho. He didn't have anyone to call except his colleagues, and he had told her that if she hadn't been by his side at that exact moment, she would've been the one he'd call. She'd been curious, of course, as to what he would say should such an event ever occur but he'd never replied.

"Jane."

"Hmmm?"

"You never answered my question."

"What question?"

"When I asked you what you would've told me on the phone if you were dying."

"I don't remember…?" Jane lied easily, putting on his usual poker face.

"Oh, really? You don't remember the absolute worst prank you've ever made me suffer through? Would you like me to remind you how it ended?" she teased.

Jane slightly bit his lower lip before a smile took over as the memory of that particularly exciting day took over.

"I believe your fist collided rather brutally with my nose."

"Exactly. So?"

"So…what?" Jane asked, turning his head to the right to gaze out the window.

"What would you have told me?"

Lisbon stopped in front of another red light and he shifted in his seat, turning to face her.

"You didn't either."

"What?" Lisbon asked as she shot him a quizzical look.

"You never really answered my question when I asked you why you'd ever signed on with me in the first place. It was the day we were trapped inside…"

"That container," she finished, driving on again. "Which was also completely your fault, by the way."

"Well yes, but that's just a tiny insignificant detail. I suddenly remembered your reply, you said 'We catch a lot of bad guys. Most days, that's enough' and then you added 'And also…' but that was it. We were interrupted and I never caught the end of that sentence."

"Oh?" she said casually, as if she couldn't remember what he was talking about.

"Yes. And I know whatever you were going to say was something personal, because your tone of voice changed. You sounded a bit hesitant, less sure of yourself somehow."

"Well, I, at least, had every intention of answering," she retorted with a smile. "You? You didn't even give me a hint of a response, not even one word. Which probably also means it was personal, but to what extent?"

Jane smiled at her sudden courage, yet he felt slightly embarrassed to have been unmasked so easily. How long had she been thinking about that answer he'd dodged at the time, wondering what he would've said?

"Alright, you win this one," he finally said.

Lisbon grinned at him proudly, before turning her attention back on the road.

"You tell me what you were going to say and then I'll give you my answer," Jane offered.

"I don't trust you."

"I know that's not true, Lisbon. You do trust me," he replied while putting his hand on top of hers.

"Would you mind?" she glanced down at his hand. "You're distracting me."

They both laughed before an awkward silence seemed to settle over them. They were both eager to get an answer, but neither wanted to be the first to start talking.

"I…"

"I was…"

"Go ahead, Lisbon."

"No, no. You go on."

"Alright, I'll go first," Jane replied. "If I were dying, I would, of course, call you but first of all, I wouldn't tell you that I'm dying."

Lisbon pulled a face, a little upset at hearing that.

"I would also tell you that I've been very happy and honoured to have worked with you. And that you're by far the best boss I've ever had."

"I'm also the only one," she smirked.

"Yea, but I wouldn't want anyone else."

Lisbon tried to contain the huge smile that was threatening to take over.

"I would also tell you to call your brothers, and get everyone together again. I'd say that you need to hang on to the family you've got left because it's only when you lose them that you start realising how important they were."

Lisbon could feel her heart sink at the sincerity of his words, and she struggled to keep her emotions under control.

"And last but not least, I'd tell you to never give up. No matter what."

"Am I imagining things, or are you beating around the bush here?" she frowned, not completely understanding Jane's last piece of advice.

"Okay, we might as well be fully honest then. I would tell you that I love you. Very much. And that I had never pictured myself falling for someone like you. Someone who challenges me, who makes me move forward. You're kind of…" he trailed off, pondering exactly how to phrase it. "Well, you're kind of the only hope I have left, really."

Lisbon felt her heart beat faster as she suddenly seemed to be at a loss for words. She would've never thought to be this important to Jane.

"I believe it's your turn now," he said, visibly relieved to have held up his end of the bargain.

"Uh, yea…I…,umm-"

"You're unbelievable," Jane stated, amused. "You wanted to know and now that you do, you have no idea how to deal with it."

Lisbon felt a blush rising to her cheeks and she tried desperately to think of something else – anything else – before she'd start to look like a tomato. But it was all in vain and Jane regarded her calmly, smiling from ear to ear.

"You know, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he said softly.

"Why?" she asked, genuinely surprised. He was by far the most curious person she knew, so why would he let this go?

"Because I've obviously made you uncomfortable and I have a feeling you're going to lie about it. So I'd prefer to not hear it now, wait a little, and eventually learn the truth. When you're ready to say it."

Lisbon turned to look at him, eyebrows raised and her cheeks still a unique shade of red.

"I signed on with you because you catch the bad guys and because you seem to be able to put everyone into a good mood, when you want to. You seem to smile all the time for no apparent reason and you're amused by the smallest things. And it's infectious. Even if I want to get rid of you half the time too," she smirked.

"But you still want more, and something always prevents you from actually getting rid of me."

"Yea, because you kind of put colour into my otherwise gray world."

Jane attempted to just seem grateful, but the happiness he felt as a result of Lisbon's confession had him positively beaming.

"I'm the colour in your gray world…that's cute, Lisbon."

She smiled in response when she noticed just how much Jane appreciated that little fact.

"You know, when I think about it, you're right," he mused. "Ever since I've been around you definitely blush a lot more."

"Jane…," she said as she shot him a reproachful look, parking the car.

"Yes?"

"Everything that was said inside this car…stays inside this car."

He started laughing and she quickly joined in. Then they got out, both just a little bit more relieved at finally having an answer to a question that had been haunting them for months now.


	12. By mutual agreement

Thank you everybody for your reviews! Thank you so much.

Chiisana Minako : Sorry, no second chapter for the story 11. But I have many french stories ready to be translated in English (but it takes time).

xxLynnexx : To be honest, there are 100 missing scenes in french so I had to translate all of them. I don't know if I can do it but I'm doing my best!

I translated this one and Afterglow04 corrected it.

Happy reading!

**12. By mutual agreement**

Lisbon was comfortably nestled on her couch, keeping the TV on mute, when she poured herself a third glass of tequila. She'd had two in under ten minutes, but by no means was she drunk yet. Still, she could already imagine the lightheaded sensation of flying she would feel once the intoxication would take a hold of her. She drank half of the fresh glass before putting it down on her coffee table with a loud thud.

To say that it had been a hard day would be an understatement. She'd spent the afternoon with Bosco's wife, trying to explain the details of her husband's murder to her. She'd originally prepared herself to face that tough situation a couple of days after the funeral, but Mandy had never come to see her. Only now, more than seven months after his death had she felt the need to learn the details of what had happened that day. So Lisbon had spent her entire afternoon and part of her evening going over the traumatic events one again, reliving it for the umpteenth time while trying hard to ignore the fact that Bosco had been in love with her. But apparently, Mandy had guessed anyway. Her softly spoken words - _"I know Sam loved you at least as much as he loved me." _- had taken Lisbon completely by surprise. Crushed, and ashamed of her own lies, she now desperately needed to forget; to just let go and feel weightless, knowing that tequila was by far the best way to help her with that. As she finished her third glass easily, she was already reaching for the bottle, ready to pour the next one. She had the following day off anyway so, luckily, there'd be plenty of time to make all possible hangover symptoms disappear.

Jane had sensed Lisbon's discomfort and regret as soon as Bosco's wife had left her office. He hadn't had the courage to go talk to Lisbon, for once actually struggling to find any appropriate words. She'd just re-experienced a horrible day, spending several hours recounting that awful moment, and he knew there was nothing that could ease her pain. A miracle cure for grief didn't exist. Yet, as it was nearing 9pm, he found himself filled with remorse, feeling guilty for not talking to her. And before he could change his mind, he took his car keys and walked out, fully intent on being there for her, to try and raise her spirits.

He arrived at her door after dark, giving a gentle knock on her front door in case she was already asleep. He was greeted by a clattering noise from inside her apartment.

"Lisbon? It's Jane. Are you okay?"

Lisbon picked up the bottle of tequila that had fallen to the floor, effectively announcing her presence to Jane. Fortunately, she still wasn't quite drunk and she'd had the common sense of putting the cap back on, so there was no stain on her carpet. She quickly hid the bottle behind her couch before feeling completely pathetic and putting it back on the table in front of her. She was a grown woman for God's sake. She was certainly old enough to look after herself, and if she wanted to have a drink to make the pain go away, that was perfectly acceptable. Jane gave another impatient knock, a little stronger this time. She sighed, figuring she'd have to open up or he'd never leave her alone.

"Lisbon?"

She walked to the door, carefully opening up.

"Yes?"

"What was that noise? Are you alright?"

Lisbon briefly glanced at the bottle of alcohol on her coffee table before turning back to Jane.

"I knocked over a bottle while getting up. But it was closed and it didn't break so no harm done."

"A bottle?" Jane asked. "Are you drinking?"

"Yea," she answered bluntly. "And I'm not going to stop now, so you can either come in and join me, or you can leave."

Jane felt a stab in his heart as her harsh words cut through him. He realised she was vulnerable right now and she was putting up her defences, but he was only there to help, after all. He didn't like the idea of her drinking alone, though there was nothing he could say to prevent her from doing it. It was her decision; she handled her life the way she wanted to.

"You don't really appear to be drunk," Jane noticed.

"I'm getting there," Lisbon replied with a sly smile. "And to be honest, I'd really prefer to be alone right now."

Jane wasn't about to go home and leave her alone in her apartment; drunk, with an overwhelming sadness threatening to take over and more alcohol to push it back down.

"Can I come in?"

Lisbon offered up a forced, sad smile.

"Jane, you should just leave me alone," she whispered, rubbing her eyes.

It seemed to be getting warmer by the minute as she felt the alcohol's effects at last.

"I wish I could, but I can't."

"Yes, you can. Just convince yourself of the fact that you wouldn't want to see me like this..."

She suddenly started giggling, calming down after a few seconds when she caught Jane's confused and slightly worried look.

"You have to come, to come in…to come home, I mean."

His presence most definitely wasn't improving her current condition. Knowing that whenever he was this close to her, her heart had the tendency to speed up ever so slightly, it meant that her blood circulation was accelerating, and it seemed to be spreading the alcohol in her veins faster than she'd anticipated.

"It wasn't a Freudian sleep… a Freudian slip."

"Lisbon, I'm always going to save you whether you like it or not, remember? Please, let me come in," he gently interrupted her ramblings.

Too tired to argue any further, she stepped aside to let him in before closing the door with a sigh.

"You being close to me is dangerous," she declared, plopping back down on the couch.

"Tequila's dangerous for you, Lisbon." Jane said, taking the bottle over to the sink and draining it.

She stood back up, walking all the way to Jane and just stared back and forth between him and the bottle. When he'd drained the very last drop, he turned around to look her in the eyes.

"Nice try, but I have more where those came from, you know," she laughed.

"I know. But you're not going to open any of them as long as I'm here, believe me."

Her eyes were shining, making Jane wonder whether that was because of the alcohol, her tiredness or if there were simply tears threatening to spill over. Even if the reason wasn't completely acceptable, he still found her to be particularly delightful. As she was standing there, glaring at him, her green irises shining back made her even more beautiful. The familiar saying "the eyes are the window to the soul" flashed through his mind and he was convinced that in this very moment, it was true. Finally, Lisbon looked down at the empty bottle on her kitchen sink.

"I need another drink; otherwise…I might do something stupid, Jane."

She'd left a short pause before addressing him, saying his name as if to stress the importance of her words.

"You're already doing it," he quietly pointed out. "Tequila's something stupid, Lisbon."

She looked up at him with a dreamy smile on her lips, appearing miles away.

"No, you're wrong…You're the one who's going to make me do something stupid."

She paused in between sentences, trying to steady her breathing.

"And I'm afraid I might do it…very soon…"

"I'll stop you," Jane assured her, without fully understanding what she was even talking about.

Lisbon put a hand on Jane's chest and he stared at her fingers in surprise, before resting his gaze on her again.

"I don't think you will…," Lisbon muttered, dropping her eyes to his lips.

Jane suddenly saw the danger approaching from a mile away, alarm bells going off in his head. He felt as if he were at the very top of a roller coaster, that exhilarating moment right before the inevitable drop, which you knew would give you a million butterflies in your stomach. However, contrary to being on a roller coaster, he was in a position to take just one little step back and stop this. So why didn't he?

As he stood pondering this over, he could feel Lisbon's lips crash onto his. He couldn't remember tequila ever having tasted quite this good. He put his hand on Lisbon's arm to try and move her back but when he felt the warmth of her skin radiating beneath his palm, the desire to stop the kiss faded away quickly. Yet, he wasn't in control of the situation, and he knew Lisbon was only pretending to be so he gathered up all his strength and reluctantly pulled back. Her cheeks were bright red, causing him to wonder if he looked exactly like that, given that she'd had the same effect on him. He suddenly felt as if it were 100 degrees in her apartment.

"Lisbon, you should go to sleep."

"Yea, I'm going. But I'll never have the…"

She stopped, not remembering what word she'd wanted to use. The alcohol seemed to be affecting her brain, so she spoke more slowly.

"…the courage to do what I just did," she finally said. "So I think I should do it just once more."

"No, Lisbon…"

"Once, Jane…"

He was practically dying to say yes. Still, his head seemed to keep shaking 'no' automatically.

"Once," she muttered, tracing his bottom lip with one of her perfect fingers.

"You would kill me if I did, Lisbon," he tried to reason with her.

"I can pretend I won't remember a thing in the morning," she nearly pleaded. "And you'll do the same. Right?"

Jane had absolutely no idea what to do. After all, if both of them agreed to pretend nothing had happened...maybe it could work. But he knew that it would all resurface one day. Forgetting was never easy.

"Jane, just say yes...," Lisbon begged him, trying to swallow the lump in her throat.

So, really, how could he say no?

"We forget everything tomorrow," he reiterated.

The smile taking over Lisbon's entire face infused his heart with a sense of pure warmth as she pressed her lips to his once more. Since both of them were well aware this would most likely be their last kiss, neither made any attempt to break it off. It seemed to go on and on for several minutes. Maybe five, maybe eight or ten, neither of them could say. A few moments later, the empty tequila bottle fell off the edge, dropping into the sink with a loud crash, causing them to jump apart. Jane untangled his hands from Lisbon's hair as she gently took hers off of his shirt.

"Do you think it's a sign?" she asked.

Jane didn't believe in signs, only in coincidences, but given Lisbon's current state he knew it would probably be safer to agree.

"It's a sign." He gave a short nod.

She started walking backwards to the stairs leading up to her bedroom, without her eyes ever leaving his. They exchanged a small smile, filled with both happiness and sadness.

"You're welcome to take the-," Lisbon said, motioning towards the couch.

"Go to bed," Jane ordered, interrupting her.

He stared at the petite brunette before him, who was smirking like a little child who'd been caught red-handed.

"And no more stupidities," he added with a smile.

"No. No more of those," she agreed. "Good night."

"Good night."

She turned around, carefully going upstairs while holding onto the railing. Jane's gaze followed her until she disappeared into her bedroom and he went to sit down on her couch, putting his head in his hands. He still didn't quite understand what had just happened, but he knew he had to set things right. Looking around for a piece of paper, he took out a pen and wrote "Nothing happened" in the middle, putting it next to the coffee maker. Shrugging into his jacket, he fished out his keys and silently left her house. She was probably asleep by now; he knew she wouldn't look for another bottle tonight. And as he drove home, he kept repeating that he'd need at least the rest of the night to recover.

Lisbon woke up the next morning with a pounding headache. She couldn't exactly recall how she'd managed to get into bed, but then again, hangovers tended to do that to her. She usually never remembered what had happened. Dragging herself downstairs, she took out two aspirin and drained a glass of water. She turned around to switch on her coffee maker when the little square note right next to it caught her eye, causing the previous night's events to flood her mind. Different emotions washed over her, fighting for control; shame, pleasure, fear, happiness, anger. And then, finally, relief.

She and Jane had agreed. From what little she could now remember, she had definitely promised not to blame him for anything as long as both of them would just forget about what had happened. And apparently, Jane had already done so. She wondered how he could possibly have forgotten the surreal moment he'd shared with her only hours before. Out of the question.

She tucked the note away at the bottom of her desk drawer, wanting to savour the only evidence she had that their kiss had been real. They shouldn't forget how that one free moment had felt anyway, they simply had to pretend they'd forgotten and never speak of it again. They were perfectly capable of doing this, surely. In the end, it didn't matter.

Because Lisbon knew that particular moment would be engraved in their minds forever; like a burning, dazzling memory.


	13. QED

**Thank you! You're so sweet in the reviews, all of you!**

**I translate this story and Afterglow04 translated it. She did a so great job! Thanks to her. Happy reading!**

**13. QED**

Lisbon woke up with a start, sweating, and appearing on the verge of having an anxiety attack. She gasped for air, her breathing fast and irregular, and when she tried to flip the switch of the lamp on her nightstand, the light bulb exploded with a short bang.

She was surrounded by darkness, feeling slightly bewildered and suddenly overcome by fear and worry. A few solitary tears surfaced, spilling over to run down her cheeks, one quickly following the other as she recalled the horrifying events.

Jane had been stabbed by Red John, and Cho was at the hospital with severe injuries.

She tried to remember when exactly Jane's funeral had been scheduled, but nothing came to mind. She frowned, silently berating herself for forgetting something as important as the funeral's date.

Why couldn't she remember?

She wiped her eyes while images of Jane lying in a pool of his own blood kept flashing through her mind, only adding fuel to her distress and making it harder for her to breathe.

Jane was dead.

For a fleeting moment, she considered the possibility of everything having been nothing more than a terrible nightmare, but the little bit of hope she felt quickly vanished as she discarded that idea.

Surely she couldn't have imagined all of that? It had simply been too vivid. And what about Cho? She wondered how he was doing, she couldn't exactly remember visiting him at the hospital either.

What if it _had_ been a nightmare?

No. Impossible. A simple nightmare wouldn't be able to evoke these kinds of feelings; the pure grief and pain she very clearly felt.

She suddenly felt nauseated and hurriedly reached for her cell phone. Turning it on, she speed-dialed Jane's number, fully expecting to get his voicemail, but maybe the sound of his voice, hearing its familiar cadence, would help calm her down.

Jane jumped slightly when his phone began vibrating, moving across the floor. He saw the little screen light up with Lisbon's name and flipped it open.

"Hello?" he answered, his voice thick with sleep.

He could hear Lisbon breathing rapidly on the other end of the line and immediately sat up a bit straighter.

"Lisbon? Is that you?"

"Jane?" She asked in a shaky voice. "Did I wake you?"

"No, of course not. At 3.17am, I always automatically wake up, expecting a call," he replied sarcastically, chuckling lightly.

Lisbon covered her mouth with one hand to stifle a sob of relief, but she couldn't prevent more tears from flooding her cheeks.

"Lisbon, is everything all right?" Jane asked, a clear hint of worry now evident in his tone.

"I just thought – I...yea, I'm okay. I'm sorry I woke you up," she finally managed. "Good night, Jane."

The consultant didn't have time to respond or ask one of the many questions that were swimming through his mind, because Lisbon had already hung up, causing him to frown.

What the hell was going on? She'd obviously sounded emotional and more than a little upset, and he couldn't help but wonder what had managed to put her in such a state of distress. He practically jumped out of bed and quickly put on a pair of pants and a t-shirt.

Wasting no time in finding his keys, he pulled the door closed behind him. There was no way he'd be able to go back to sleep without fully understanding the situation anyway.

Lisbon threw her cell phone back on the bed carelessly, fully surrendering to her grief, even though she now realised it was completely unjustified. Everything had just seemed so real: Jane's death, Cho's injuries, Red John's haunting laugh, the sun reflecting off of the knife's blade...She stood up slowly, walking with her arms stretched in front of her through the seemingly impervious darkness to reach the light switch by her bedroom door. She kept trying to convince herself that everything was perfectly fine and normal, but the turmoil in her head didn't fade away as quickly as she'd hoped.

She descended the stairs while attempting to dry her cheeks with her arm, before walking into the kitchen. A shiver ran down her back, and she hadn't been aware of exactly how cold it was until she noticed her bare arms, covered in goosebumps. If she hadn't been in such a hurry to get out of that bedroom, she would've had the common sense to put on her dressing gown, instead of just wandering downstairs in her skimpy little nightdress.

Pouring herself a cup of much-needed coffee, she walked over to the table, dropping onto the nearest chair with a sigh. She stared at the steaming mug in front of her, suddenly lacking the strength to actually pick it up and put it to her lips. The overwhelming sadness and heartache she'd felt when waking up had shaken her to the core; usually, nothing or no one was capable of standing in the way of her and caffeine.

A fresh set of tears was threatening to spill over again, when there was a short knock on her front door.

"Damnit," she muttered, quickly willing the tears in her eyes away. "Damn him..."

Lisbon didn't doubt for a second that the person currently seeking entrance to her home was Jane, who'd obviously figured out something was wrong. She cursed under her breath; calling him to check he was still alive probably hadn't been the best idea.

Nevertheless, she got up and walked over, opening up her front door as a cold gust of wind blew inside.

"I saw there was a light on, so I stopped." Jane explained, a little smile playing on his lips.

"Jane, I'm sorry about before. It was...silly of me to call you and -"

"Lisbon, you're shivering," he cut her short and walked into her apartment, closing the door behind him. "Come on, let's find you a sweater before you get sick, and then you can tell me what happened."

"You were dead," Lisbon declared out of the blue, her voice still trembling slightly, like it had earlier on the phone. "I woke up, and I had no idea where I was or what had happened. And then I couldn't even remember the date of your funeral, or when I was supposed to go."

She was making vague gestures with her arms while she explained, as if she still hadn't quite grasped that none of it was true; that everything had merely been her imagination getting the better of her.

Jane took a few steps closer, wearing a worried look but she involuntarily took a step back, before speaking up again.

"I couldn't breathe, it was like I was suffocating and -"

"You've been crying," Jane's soft voice interrupted her as he came to a halt only inches away.

"Of course I've been crying, you were dead!" Lisbon suddenly exclaimed in frustration, harsher than she'd intended.

She let out a deep sigh as another shiver made its way down her spine. Before she had the chance to take another step back, Jane closed the space between them and put his hands on her arms, rubbing them up and down her skin in hopes of warming her up. On impulse, Lisbon gently slipped her arms around his waist and held him, instinctively burying her face in his shirt.

Jane held his breath for a moment and stiffened slightly. But if she needed to convince herself that he was alive and well, then he didn't mind one bit and he enveloped her in a hug, trying to comfort her.

"I'm here," he simply said. "And you're not going to get rid of me that easily, so don't worry."

He could feel her laughter against his chest and he heaved a relieved sigh.

"It's my fault. This is probably all just a result of the discussion we had earlier," he murmured in her ear.

"No," Lisbon countered, but he interrupted just as quickly.

"Yes, it is. I shouldn't mention those things to you, I'm sorry."

Lisbon pulled back abruptly and walked over to the kitchen table, picking up her now-lukewarm coffee.

"You're right," she softly admitted. "It does trouble me more than I let on, I guess. I realize we'll probably never agree on the whole revenge thing, but...that doesn't mean I'm not scared of the outcome. Or that I don't constantly worry that you'll end up dead."

Jane looked down, averting his gaze while slipping his hands inside his pockets. The knowledge that he was hurting her killed him, yet, it wasn't enough to rid himself of the steely determination he'd grown accustomed to. He would kill Red John.

"Lisbon -"

"No, don't. I already know what you're going to say," Lisbon interjected with a sad smile. "Something along the lines of "I won't change my mind", or "Red John is mine"."

"I'm sorry for upsetting you," he stated, the guilt he felt clearly visible on his face.

He was staring straight ahead as he pursed his lips, appearing deep in thought.

"Jane, look at me."

He finally focused his eyes on hers, and he was surprised to find her looking far more serene than he felt at that moment.

"You don't have to apologize. Or feel guilty, for that matter. You forget that, while you do annoy me constantly, you also make me laugh most days," she smirked. "You know, if I could go back in time to the day I signed on with you...I'd probably do it all again without even hesitating. So what does that tell you?"

"You should really go put on something warmer, Lisbon. It's freezing in here and you could get sick," Jane observed when he noticed her crossing her arms in front of her to keep warm.

"Jane, I kind of just told you something important."

"Yes, I know, I heard. And that's nice of you to say. But I can't just ignore the fact that I'm also hurting you at the same time." Lisbon simply shrugged at this assessment. "Now go find your robe. I mean, not that you don't look absolutely gorgeous in that nightdress of yours, but...," Jane trailed off with a smile lighting up his face, hoping to inject some levity into the conversation.

His teasing comment had the desired effect when he noticed Lisbon's cheeks turning red instantly, but he was glad to see her lips curl up into a smile.

"That was inappropriate," she said, but Jane just shrugged.

"Well, look at yourself, woman. Why won't you cover yourself? Are you trying to seduce me?"

"I can't believe you're this pretentious even in the middle of the night! Don't you ever turn that off?"

"I don't know, so, was this your way of trying to tempt me?"

"Of course not, I...oh, wait a minute, I get it," her face lit up with understanding and a teasing smile beamed back at him. "Am I testing the limits of your self-control here? You want me to put on a robe because you're afraid you won't be able to resist me?"

_Now who's the pretentious one?_ Jane thought, thoroughly amused. _Two can play this game._

His features turned serious and he approached her slowly, almost in a predatory kind of way. He was pleased to notice Lisbon's mocking, slightly victorious smile disappear in less than a second and when they were only inches apart, she raised her hands as if to prevent him from coming any closer.

"Jane, I was kidding," she said, a slight touch of panic to her voice. "I just said that to...actually, I don't know why I said that. I was kidding, it wasn't -"

Her ramblings were interrupted when his laughter suddenly echoed around the room.

"Oh, Lisbon. You're really very easy to fool," he teased. "You're such a coward."

Lisbon's mouth dropped a little in surprise, before she felt a warm glow travel through her body, and she blushed furiously. Jane chuckled and shook his head, his gaze unabashedly sliding over her body.

"Hmm, look at that. Looks like you're not cold anymore," he grinned.

"All right. I'll go to bed now and try to get back to that wonderful nightmare, if you don't mind. I suddenly appreciate the fact that at least you couldn't bother me there," Lisbon retorted.

She turned around in the general direction of the stairs but Jane's voice halted her midway.

"You'd miss me, Lisbon," Jane said with a genuine smile.

She turned around and shook her head slightly, the dimple on her cheek appearing when a smile tugged on her lips.

"That's one way to put it."

They stood staring at each other for a few seconds more, before Lisbon's smile faltered and she quietly asked, "Jane...what am I supposed to do if you die?"

"You keep catching a lot of bad guys," he answered, as if it should be more than obvious that her life would just go on.

"I don't think it'd be that simple," she muttered under her breath, the frown lines on her forehead a telling sign of the unease she felt.

"Well, then I won't die."

Jane glanced down at the floor, a guilty expression back in place and Lisbon was silently hopeful that the message had gotten across. Even if the chances of Jane changing his mind and letting her arrest his family's killer were slim at best, she owed it to the both of them to at least try. From that moment on, she vowed to never give up trying. She'd continue to attempt reasoning with him by being sincere and letting him know that there were people who cared about him.

"Ideally," she finally said in response to his statement. "QED*, like my brother always used to say. Thank you for stopping by tonight, Jane."

The blonde consultant looked up at her and nodded, giving a small shrug of his shoulder to indicate he figured it was only normal he'd raced over here in the middle of the night.

"Good night," Lisbon offered before retreating upstairs and leaving him alone with his thoughts.

"Good night, Lisbon."

Jane quietly exited her apartment, his mind still spinning. He was tired of living with this constant feeling of guilt accompanying him wherever he went. He was used to feeling guilty over his family's fate, but now it was the fact that he was hurting Lisbon that was at the forefront of his mind.

He was wondering if it would be at all possible that Lisbon and the friendship she so graciously offered him, could help him conquer his obsession, his _need_, for revenge. Probably not, because the determination he felt on a daily basis was limitless. And if there was anyone who knew about limits and where to draw the line, it was him. He crossed lines and ignored rules at the CBI all the time.

He'd almost crossed another one only minutes before, he realized when he'd wondered what he would have done if Lisbon hadn't stopped him from kissing her. He believed it was fairly obvious he would have gone through with it, would've gently touched his lips to hers and that would be crossing another line entirely. He laughed when imagining what Lisbon's reaction might have been then. Surely she would've at least slapped him, like she was prone to do. Luckily, he hadn't provided her with a reason to do so since she'd stopped him in time.

Lisbon had always been better at making sure they stuck to the rules, it was partly why he needed her so much. And that night, he'd witnessed something beautiful; the ultimate proof of their friendship.

She needed him just as much.

*QED : Quod Erat Demonstrandum ( = which was to be demonstrated)


	14. True false statement

I'm back! Sorry, I know that some of you are waiting for these stories and I'm sorry that it took me all this time to publish again. I translated this story and Afterglow04 corrected it (thank you!).

Enjoy !

**14. True false statement**

"… therefore we'll need two of our agents, obviously a man and a woman, who'll need to pose as a married couple. Lisbon, I'll let you handle this, but don't forget that Van Pelt has already been identified as a CBI agent in this case so you're the only one left to take on the part of the wife."

"Ma'am, maybe there's another option we could try, the killer is-"

"Do you see another possibility right now?"

"No, ma'am."

"All right. Then let's get to work."

On that final note, Madeleine Hightower briskly left the room, leaving Lisbon and her team to handle the details of the undercover operation. She looked around at the other agents gathered around her and knew she could trust them to successfully close this case. Provided that Jane could keep himself from intervening, of course.

"Okay, one of you will have to pretend to be my husband, so-"

"I'll do it!" An enthusiastic voice carried across the bullpen and three pairs of amused eyes turned around towards the worn, brown leather couch.

"…Cho, you've already displayed your acting skills on previous occasions, I think you'll make a perfect husband," Lisbon continued, ignoring the interruption. "Do you own a ring that could pass for a wedding band?"

"I don't think so, no," Cho answered.

"Aha!" Jane exclaimed, rising off the couch to approach the others. "Now, it would be so much easier if you would just let me do it, Lisbon, since I already have a wedding ring."

"I'll find something you can use," Lisbon informed Cho, once again not acknowledging Jane's intrusion.

"If you don't mind my asking, boss, why can't it be Jane?" the Asian agent spoke up. "After all, he does already look the part and we all know he's good at fooling people. And it would allow him to be near the suspects and observe their behaviour."

Lisbon reluctantly turned towards Jane only to be greeted by one of his radiant, triumphant smiles. He nodded his thanks to Cho and raised an eyebrow in Lisbon's direction.

"No, Cho, I'm sure you'll do great. It'll be you and me," she declared with a note of finality in her voice before turning around and heading for her office.

"Sure, boss."

"Oh, come on, Lisbon! I quite like the idea of marrying you for a day," Jane called out. "Would a real proposal do the trick? Because in that case…Lisbon, will you marry me?"

The senior agent turned on her heel, an exasperated look on her face.

"Now do you see why it can't be Jane, Cho?"

The hint of a smirk crossed her second-in-command's face as he witnessed Jane's childish antics and Lisbon marched off to her office, closing the door behind her.

"Hey, I tried," Cho said, turning towards Jane.

"It's true, he did defend you well," Van Pelt agreed with a smile.

"Yes, thank you Cho, but unfortunately I can now no longer ignore that her heart belongs to you," Jane replied in a mock-dramatic voice. "All of my efforts have clearly been in vain..."

"You could try just telling her, you know. What are you afraid of? I mean, worst that could happen is she punches you in the face," Cho remarked with his usual detached air of seriousness.

Jane pried his eyes away from Lisbon's door as the question seemed to wake him from his trance-like state. He momentarily stared at Cho, no longer convinced his colleague was merely playing around.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that you're attracted to Lisbon," Cho stated. "You can hide it behind various acts all you want, but it's obviously not working so you might want to try a more direct approach."

"Who would have ever picked Cho to be the romantic of the group?" Rigsby cut in while letting out a laugh. "Have you been watching too many romantic comedies lately?"

"Don't laugh, Wayne," Van Pelt retorted. "Cho's got a point."

"Whoa, hey, let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I don't look at Lisbon that way," Jane stated with a casual laugh.

Cho leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms in front of his chest and staring Jane down with a deadpan look. Van Pelt simply rolled her eyes and didn't even try to hide the grin forming on her lips while Rigsby continued to stare at the scene before him with amusement evident in his gaze.

"Even Wayne eventually gathered up the courage to tell me how he felt, Jane," Van Pelt observed. "You should give it a try."

"Yeah, you should," Rigsby concurred.

"Are you all out of your minds? I don't want to go out with Lisbon!" Jane repeated incredulously, but he could see the others shooting him sceptical looks.

"You spend most of your time teasing her," Van Pelt began.

"You have a tendency to be overprotective where she's concerned," Rigsby added.

"And the fact that you're attempting to convince us of your indifference by laughing it off and claiming that we're crazy, only confirms that you're embarrassed we tackled this particular subject," Cho finished.

Jane stared at each of his colleagues in turn, trying to find some kind of loophole; a way around their reasoning. When he came up short and failed to provide a solid counter-argument, the disbelieving smile slowly faded away.

"Lisbon and I are friends," he finally said.

"Jane!" Lisbon's voice suddenly bellowed across the office.

"Your _friend_ wants to see you," Van Pelt pointed out, smiling.

"Let's go. It's now or never, we can be here for support if you need us," Rigsby joined in with a similarly pleased expression.

"Oh, please," Jane replied, heading for Lisbon's office. "Someone must have spiked the coffee this morning, that's the only reasonable explanation for your madness."

He wandered into the next room while closing the door behind him, all the while trying to figure out why the others had suddenly decided to confront him about his relationship with Lisbon.

"MacNeil is making a formal complaint against the CBI," Lisbon said, oblivious to his inner musings. "I just wanted to inform you that it's in your own interest to be careful when he comes over to talk to us. Hightower scheduled an appointment for this afternoon and I fully expect you to offer him an apology. And I don't care what you say, but you'd better make it sound sincere."

"Okay," he replied distractedly.

"Really?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"I'm sorry," he shook himself out of his reverie. "You were saying?"

"Jane, is everything okay?" Lisbon frowned and stood up. "Why do your three apostles keep staring at us?"

"Oh, that…" the consultant smiled and glanced out the side window. "That would be because they're expecting me to make some kind of declaration."

"Some kind of what?"

"Apparently, most people seem to be convinced that I have a romantic interest in you and they...well, it's Van Pelt's opinion that I tease you a little too much, Rigsby claims I'm too overprotective and Cho practically forced me to declare my undying love for you until you called me in here and provided an escape. So I believe they're wondering if I'm actually asking you out, or if I'm telling you that they pressured me into doing it, which by the way is fairly absurd."

Jane had recounted the story in one breath and now redirected his gaze at Lisbon who seemed to be at a loss for words, her mouth slightly open as she gaped at him.

"I'm not sure I understood all of that," she regrouped and continued hesitantly, "but just to be clear...are you asking me out?"

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "Though if I did, you'd probably turn me down because we work together," he stated.

Lisbon visibly swallowed and carefully sat back down, trying to disguise how her knees suddenly felt rather weak.

"Would you accept?" Jane repeated softly.

"Just don't ask," Lisbon simply responded. "Please."

"Because you'd be embarrassed about having to refuse or because you'd be tempted to accept the offer and you don't think that's a good idea?" He enquired curiously.

Lisbon averted her eyes, seemingly very interested in the files on her desk, but when a faint blush graced her cheeks, Jane had all the answer he needed.

"Oh…I see," he said, unable to keep from smiling at her. "Well, not to worry, I won't proposition you. And about this guy, MacNeil, I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best."

"Right, so you won't do anything. No apologies."

"A favour for a favour, Lisbon. I won't ask you out as long as you won't force me to offer up unjustified apologies."

Lisbon raised her hands in front of her, an exasperated sign of surrender.

"All right," she sighed. "Deal."

"Well then."

"Yea..."

She chanced a glance at Jane.

"You can go, you know. I mean…if you want to, I'm not throwing you out."

"Yea, I'll go, and next time you and I talk - most likely in a couple of minutes - everything will be back to normal," Jane assured her. "It's all their fault anyway," he added while pointing at the rest of the team, who were still throwing surreptitious looks in their direction.

"I know," Lisbon answered.

"That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy this conversation, though," Jane smiled, half amused and still half embarrassed, but Lisbon finally cracked a smile.

The blonde walked out of her office to leave her in peace and casually strolled through the bullpen en route to his couch.

"So?" Rigsby asked, always the first to voice his curiosity.

"You were right," Jane declared. "I did need to talk to her about that. And we thought about it and discussed it...," he went on, already smiling at the prospect of his next statement, "but we've decided not to walk down that road again; it was far too complicated last time…"

He hid his grin as he stretched on his beloved piece of furniture, silently laughing at the imagined expression on Rigsby's face.

Nevertheless, he was aware that he'd need to start thinking of some valid excuses in case his colleagues ever felt the need to bring up his attraction to Lisbon again.

Because he was quite convinced he wouldn't get off that easily next time.


End file.
